Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders (tags) are operated in conjunction with RFID base stations for a variety of inventory-control, security and other purposes. Typically an item having a tag associated with it, for example, a container with a tag placed inside it, is brought into a "read zone" established by the base station. The RFID base station generates a continuous wave electromagnetic disturbance at a carrier frequency. This disturbance is modulated to correspond to data that is to be communicated via the disturbance. The modulated disturbance, which carries information and may be sometimes referred to as a signal, communicates this information at a rate, referred to as the data rate, which is lower than the carrier frequency. The transmitted disturbance will be referred to hereinafter as a signal or field. The RFID base station transmits an interrogating RF signal which is modulated by a receiving tag in order to impart information stored within the tag to the signal. The receiving tag then transmits the modulated, answering, RF signal to the base station.
RFID tags may be active, containing their own RF transmitter, or passive, having no transmitter. Passive tags, i.e., tags that rely upon modulated back-scattering to provide a return link to an interrogating base station, may include their own power sources, such as a batteries, or they may be "field-powered", whereby they obtain their operating power by rectifying an interrogating RF signal that is transmitted by a base station. Although both battery-powered and field powered tags have minimum RF field strength read requirements, or read thresholds, in general, a field-powered passive system requires at least an order of magnitude more power in the interrogating signal than a system that employs tags having their own power sources. Because the interrogating signal must provide power to a field-powered passive tag, the read threshold for a field-powered passive tag is typically substantially higher than for an active tag. However, because field-powered passive tags do not include their own power source, they may be substantially less expensive than active tags and because they have no battery to "run down", field-powered passive tags may be more reliable in the long term than active tags. And, finally, because they do not include a battery, field-powered passive tags are typically much more "environmentally-friendly".
Although field-powered passive tag RFID systems provide cost, reliability, and environmental benefits, there are obstacles to the efficient operation of field-powered passive tag RFID systems. In particular, it is often difficult to deliver sufficient power from a base station to a field-powered passive tag via an interrogating signal. The amount of power a base station may impart to a signal is limited by a number of factors, not the least of which is regulation by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). In addition to limits placed upon the base station's transmitted power, i.e., the power level at the base station's antenna input, RFID tags are often affixed to the surface of or placed within, a container composed of RF absorptive material. The container may move along a conveyor or roller system and, as the container enters the reading zone of a reading station, an interrogating signal is transmitted to the container. Ideally, the tag would be read regardless of the tag's location within the container or the orientation of the container as it passes the reading station. Unfortunately, the electromagnetic field pattern set up by an RF signal will typically include areas of relatively low field strength which preclude the reading of RF tags as they pass by a reading station. In the case of such a reading failure, a human operator may have to intervene by re-orienting the container and passing it by the read station once more. Alternatively, human operators may be required to orient containers in a preferred orientation so that the containers may be reliably read as they pass the reading station. Such human intervention can be a costly, time consuming, and relatively unreliable approach.
Some RFID applications operate on a scale that strongly encourages the use of RFID tags which can be read from a distance. That is, a tag that can be read from a distance of only one meter or less may be perfectly serviceable for some applications, such as an application where an RFID tag is enclosed within a small container of clothes and is transported past a base station to be read. But larger scale industrial and warehousing applications, such as the tracking of pallets and their associated goods, may benefit from an RFID tag that provides a longer reading range. Without a tag having a relatively long reading range, bulky items such as loaded pallets may require that an RFID base station be located so close to the tag which is to be read as to interfere with the movement of the pallet. An RFID tag with a longer reading range would provide more positioning flexibility for the RFID base station, thereby reducing the probability that the base station would interfere with the movement of the bulky item. At the same time, the RFID tag itself should be relatively compact, rugged, and inexpensive. Additionally, the RFID tag would preferably be elliptically polarized, with a low axial ratio, e.g., circularly polarized, to ensure that interrogating signals of a wide variety of polarizations would be accommodated.
There is, therefore, a need for a compact, inexpensive, RFID tag that provides relatively long-range operation.